


No Reason to Turn Back

by elfwannabe



Category: Dark Shadows (1966)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-01-25
Packaged: 2017-11-26 19:22:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/653588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elfwannabe/pseuds/elfwannabe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barnabas contemplates the task at hand- killing  Angelique.</p>
<p>Written for a Shakespeare prompt comm on LJ: <i>"If it were done when 'tis done, then 'twere well/It were done quickly"-</i><i>MacBeth</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	No Reason to Turn Back

Barnabas Collins never thought he would attempt to kill his wife.

Then again, there was very little in his life these past weeks that he had expected. He never would have thought that Josette would marry anyone else; he never would have guessed that he would kill Jeremiah. He never would have dreamed that he would be disinherited. He would have laughed if anyone had told him that he would marry a witch. Indeed, he would have laughed at the very idea of witchcraft. And he had laughed, only a few days ago, though it seemed another lifetime.

His life seemed to be nothing more than an ever-increasing series of distressing and improbable events, bearing down on him, pushing him to do _something_ -to do _anything_. It was distressing-the clarity with which he now saw the entire course of events. What a cruel joke it was to have a man see so plainly what it is he could have done-should have done-long after it was too late to change anything. Yes, it was far too late for him; everything he had ever wanted had already slipped through his fingers- his love, his family, his property. There was nothing left. He could not change his fate.

But he could prevent it from occurring to another. He could- _he must_ -destroy the one who had destroyed him. He would stop her. He would kill Angelique. And then-well, it really didn't matter. He knew that there was no way of continuing his life after committing such an act, but what was there left to continue with anyway?

No, the aftermath did not matter; all that was left was the act itself. And he must do it soon. He must get it over with before he lost his nerve, before he thought too much about what he had to do, before he had time to remember the principles he used to hold dear. For though he knew now that he had only one course of action left open to him, it was one that in better times he would have found repulsive. For an honorable man to have to murder his wife! And yet he must. So he would do it now, before his sense of honor and all that is right overwhelmed his determination, his rage, and his need for revenge. But most of all, before he felt, once again, that he had reason to live.


End file.
